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Powering Ubiquiti links from 12v

So it seems that I can power a Ubiquiti Bullet and Rocket directly with DC 12v. In the past, I have been chasing POE and wasting precious milli-watts converting 12V to POE. (Usually 24v or 48v) then powering the devices. A power-saving can be made by connecting directly to 12V. If using a solar setup, the power savings can mean more up-time, and better use of your batteries. Some testing will follow this blog post. However, in the interim, it seems pretty stable here in the workshop.

How to make a cable for 12v power supply.

RJ-45

RJ-35 Crimp

Pliers

Box Cutter

Straight through Ethernet cable

In a nutshell, the Ubiquiti Bullets and Rockets grab power from 4 pins on a standard RJ-45 connector. In our case here in Australia (Blue/White-Blue) pins 4 & 5 will carry 12v+ and pins 7/8 12v-.

Prepare your cable

If you have the resources to cut up a straight-through cable, then go ahead and cut one end off. (Otherwise, you will have to complete two terminations) Strip the cable back a bit to expose the pairs of wires. Identify the solid blue and Blue-White wires. These will be your 12V Positive injection points. Now identify the Solid Brown and Brown-White wires. This will be your 12V Negative injection point. From here identify the remaining cores and insert them into an RJ-45 housing.

PIN 1 – White-Orange

PIN 2 – Orange

PIN 3 – White-Green

PIN 6 – Green

Now crimp your RJ-45 and you are all done. The bare wires can be used in any way to inject 12v. ie Barrel jack. I would use a fuse close to the source to protect your equipment. Also, confirm the pinouts before plugging in. The last thing you want is to fry your Ubiquiti gear.

Or Don’t hack up a cable and buy some injectors

If you want that more professional look, then you can always purchase a few of these injectors. Have a look at the specs though and make sure the power inputs are on pins 4/5 and 7/8. Let me know how your setup goes? I need to do some testing on the longevity of this type of setup. My only concern is that the fluctuating 12v from batteries could damage the Ubiquiti gear over time. Maybe I need to look at a circuit to provide clean power.